


What Are You Afraid Of?

by Rizobact



Series: Curb Finds [30]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Challenge Response, Gen, Prompt - Phobias
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-01 09:35:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8619289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rizobact/pseuds/Rizobact
Summary: Even the most intellectual of mechs are afraid of something.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Transformers Rare Pairing [Fall 2016 Bingo Challenge ](http://tf-rare-pairing.livejournal.com/667205.html) off a custom bingo card.

"You really aren't afraid of me, are you?"

Prowl huffed an irritated sigh as, once again, his visitor crept up behind him to loom over his shoulder. "I never was, Mesothulas."

"Liar," the mech chuckled huskily, coming around in front of him. "And it's Tarantulas now, remember?"

"I remember." Prowl looked up, meeting the spider's gaze. He supposed that face might have intimidated some, but Prowl wasn't one to be bothered by appearances. No, what scared him about this mech wasn't his face, but rather the mind that lay behind it. Not that he planned to admit there was any truth to Tarantulas' accusation. “It simply doesn't change anything.”

Almost as if he saw through him anyway, Tarantulas cackled again. "Of course it doesn't," he said in a mockingly reassuring tone. "I suppose if I'd really been trying to inspire terror in your spark, I should have gone with something else when I modified my frame. Tell me, what would have been more frightening? A lion? A snake?"

"A mime?" Prowl suggested, wishing he knew how to get him to stop talking and leave.

"Funny." And Tarantulas did seem to be genuinely amused, his mandibles clicking with glee. "But not feasible, I'm afraid."

"I thought the point was for me to be afraid." He shouldn't let himself get drawn into the banter, but Prowl had a hard time letting Tarantulas get the last word. "You know, you're overlooking something rather obvious."

"Oh? And what is that, Prowl?" Tarantulas danced away from Prowl to jump up into a web he'd spun earlier, only to dangle back down by his clawed feet with his extra limbs splayed out behind him. Again, attempting to throw Prowl off, to unsettle him, but the bizarre technorganic monstrosity he'd remade himself into continued to have no impact on Prowl's calm. "What am I overlooking?"

"That you've chosen a form based on a human phobia, rather than a Cybertronian one." The corner of Prowl's mouth twitched up slightly in a cold smirk. "Earth animals, even those that they consider to be the most terrifying, aren't likely to scare mechs with no evolutionary basis for being afraid of them."

"Ah, yes. Silly me," Tarantulas chuckled as he grabbed Prowl's shoulders, pulling them together face to upside-down face. "Perhaps," he muttered, suddenly much more serious, "I ought to have chosen a scraplet."

Sharp prickles skittered over Prowl's back, biting into his protoform through seams in his armor. He flinched before he could help himself, clamping his armor down tight against Tarantulas' questing fingers, though not quickly enough to pinch him back.

Prowl frowned. Tarantulas just laughed.


End file.
